1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to robotics and, more specifically, to a balance controller for controlling a humanoid robot.
2. Description of the Related Arts
For humanoid robots to operate in the real world where they can work and/or live together with humans, the ability to recover from unexpected external disturbances such as a push is highly desirable. Without the ability to maintain balance, robots are highly susceptible to damage to themselves and to humans or objects around them. While some prior works attempt to provide a control framework to enable a robot to achieve balance control, these traditional models are often imprecise and fail to perform at the level desired. Furthermore, traditional balance controllers fail to control the robot's motions in a manner that is sufficiently human-like. Finally, traditional balance controllers are limited to flat ground, and are unable to achieve balance maintenance on ground that is non-level and/or non-stationary.